In what was supposed to be the first real test of his career, newly crowned WBC Lightweight Champion, Adrien Broner passed with flying colors last night at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey, stopping former champion Antonio Demarco in the eighth round.

After an uneventful opening round in which both men didn’t produce a high offensive output, it seemed to be all Broner from there on out. Arguably if you were hard pressed to give DeMarco a round, you could have possibly gave him the third. It seemed as though Broner laid back a little bit in this round and allowed DeMarco to push him back to ropes where he preceded to land some good body shots. It was the only round in which Demarco out landed Broner according to CompuBox.

DeMarco valiantly tried to press the action in the fight despite being caught with some precise power shots, particularly short right uppercuts and straight right hands on the inside. It was apparent that Broner was the quicker sharper puncher in this fight and that DeMarco appeared to be totally outgunned.

The fifth round was statistically a very dominant round for Broner in which he landed 52 of his 78 power punches thrown. By the end of the round, DeMarco’s face was showing some bruising and a cut opened up under his left eye. It was pretty much of the same in the sixth round, as Broner was able to continue to land his power shots at a high rate, finishing the round with a hard left hand to the body that drew a grimace from DeMarco.

A perfect crisp combination that ended with a sweeping left uppercut to the chin of DeMarco midway through the eighth round sent the champion backward and down to one knee. DeMarco’s corner came onto the ring apron waving a white towel. Benjy Esteves Jr. waved an end to the bout without reaching the count of ten.

Broner was true to his word claiming before the fight, “I’m not coming just to win this fight. I’m coming to knock DeMarco out. This fight is speed versus power and it’s going to be just another day in the ring for me. Going up in weight is going to be different and I know he can hit, but you can’t hit what you can’t see and I’m too fast and furious for him. Power is nothing if you can’t connect.”

In the co feature of the HBO televised card, four to one underdog and disciple of the late Emanuel Steward, Jonathon Banks stopped the heavily favored and highly touted Seth “Mayhem” Mitchell in the second round.

Joe is a writer and correspondent for thaboxingvoice.com. He is also a co-host of the thaboxingvoice.com's official radio show podcast. Joe has been following the sport of boxing for over 33 years and has been a contributor to various boxing websites and internet podcasts. Occasionally he covers live events as a member of the boxing media and provides live interviews with boxers, promoters, trainers, and managers. Joe can be reached by email at: jhabeeb1@hotmail.com. Follow him on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/jhabeeb1 and you can also contact him and friend him at his facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/Joe.Habeeb.